Heart of Courage
by Foxbracken - Phoenix Everren
Summary: My one-shot submission for the Feather and Snow series contest from Snowfluff. /\/\ Talonpaw is a young, strong apprentice of IceClan but is thickheaded. When a fox invades IceClan territory, will she be able to beat the larger creature or will she become prey for the beast?


**Name: **Talonheart

**Appearance: **Large, bulky, slender, powerful gray she-cat with dark black tabby stripes. She has long, thick, hard, and thorn-sharp claws and large, wide-set ears. Her eyes are unblinking dark amber and wide. In the very middle of her right ear is a puncture mark the shape in a perfect circle. She also has a few scars here-and-there on her pelt and she walks with a slight limp when it's freezing cold outside in leafbare.

**Gender: **Female.

**Age: **13 moons.

**Personality: **She is very stubborn, sarcastic, calm, fearless, brave, yet can act rashly in the heat of the battle, she is also normally silent and likes to be alone, she also has no interests in getting a mate, can be smug at times, and she can be slightly friendly at times and not give cats the cold shoulder.

**Background: **Her father was a rogue and her mother was a loner kit but was taken into IceClan and raised into the Clan.

**Other: **She excels at fighting and is okay at hunting, and she doesn't have the patience for an apprentice. Sometimes she'll blindly rush into danger and fight without order.

* * *

Talonpaw slunk through the forest silently, jaws parted, wide-set ears swiveling, and eyes narrowed slightly as the large apprentice searched for prey. The gray she-cat froze her nose twitching as the scent of vole filled her. With a smirk, Talonpaw silently stalked toward the scent, soon spotting the tiny creature. Wriggling her haunches, Talonpaw pounced onto the vole, snapping its spine. She then buried her prey and prowled through the territory in search for more prey.

The tabby she-cat froze when the horrid stench of fox invaded into her lungs and she curled her lip, unsheathing her claws and digging them into the ground, ears flattening, fur bristling, and tail flagging. _No fox invades my territory and gets away with it. _She thought with a soft hiss, prowling after the scent of the fox, not caring that she had to tell her senior Clanmates first before rushing into battle.

Talonpaw crouched down in some bushes, her sights landing on the fox that was munching on a rabbit, blood staining its muzzle and fur stuck in its paws and claws. Eyes blazing and heart lit with fury, Talonpaw screeched loudly, streaking out and clawing her way into the fox's back.

The fox snarled, leaping to its paws and racing in a circle, snapping its blood stained jaws at the IceClan apprentice. Talonpaw hissed as it grabbed her tail and flung her off of its back. She tumbled to the ground and leaped to her paws, hissing in pain as she lashed her tail, flinging blood. She darted forward again, yowling as the fox snapped her right ear, making a perfect circle puncture mark in the middle of her ear. Talonpaw streaked back away and then bolted under the fox, slashing its belly and darting away again as it howled in pain.

Twisting around, she sneered at the fox that was clearly furious. The creature charged at her, growling and snarling. Talonpaw hissed and darted around, narrowly missing the beast's jaws as it snapped next to her head. The gray she-cat slipped around the fox and slashed its legs before twisting around and slashing at the fox's muzzle, snarling.

The fox yelped and stumbled back in surprise before snarling, charging the apprentice again and snapping its jaws on her tail.

Talonpaw shrieked in pain and rage, twisting her body around and clamping her jaws onto its nose as she clawed its muzzle. The fox growled, releasing her tail and shaking its head as blood from both animals splattered around. Suddenly, the fox lunged forward, causing the apprentice to screech in surprise as she tried to dodge, but the creature grabbed her side and tore a shallow, but painful and bloody, gash in her side. Talonpaw yowled in pain, stars dancing in her gaze as she pulled away, stumbling to the side, shaking her head.

Baring her teeth and ignoring the pain and her bleeding wounds, Talonpaw growled, the fur along the nape of her neck rising up even farther as she prowled toward the fox that was backing away, ears flat and snapping its jaws at her. It caught her front right paw and sank its fangs into it. She snarled and slammed her teeth into its nose, causing the fox to howl and release her paw.

Sneering, the she-cat raced forward, pausing to rear back on her hind legs and slashed her claws across the fox's nose and muzzle. The fox howled and shook its head before turning and racing away.

The proud, wounded apprentice stood there, shaking, tail held high and a smug smirk across her face as a battle patrol appeared behind her, blood pouring down her side and onto her legs and the ground from gashes caused by the teeth of the fox. She was favoring her right front paw which was slightly swollen as beads of blood squeezed out. Cats murmured their cheers and her mentor scolded her about taking on a fox alone before they went back to camp to treat Talonpaw, who leaned on her mentor from support, her smug face twisted in agony.

**xXx**

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Talonpaw, from this moment you will be known as Talonheart. StarClan honors your fighting skill and independence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan."

Talonheart licked her leader's shoulder before backing away, basking in the chanting of her warrior name from her Clanmates. Turning, the newly made warrior padded over to the entrance of camp and sat down, keeping guard. A smug smirk planted on Talonheart's face as she swiveled her ears, eyes bright and alert, jaws slightly parted.


End file.
